31 Songs About Missing Someone Who Died

12. “Dance With My Father” by Luther Vandross

Song Year: 2003

Another terrific piece of music about losing a parent too soon, Luther Vandross’ “Dance With My Father” dealt not only with the death of Vandross’ dad when the singer was only seven but also with feelings that the song’s co-writer, Richard Marx, knew, as his father had died a few years before the pair wrote the song.

“Dance With My Father” has that sense of longing we all know in the face of death— that bargain we offer to the universe about how we’d give up everything if we could just have a few more minutes with the one we’ve lost.

13. “The Greatest Man I Never Knew” by Reba McEntire

Song Year: 1991

Death is hard enough on those left behind, but it’s so much worse when there’s unfinished business. That’s the idea behind Reba McEntire’s huge hit, “The Greatest Man I Never Knew.” The song is about the narrator’s father, an emotionally withdrawn man who had trouble showing his children his love for them.

As a result, after he dies, the narrator realizes that she didn’t know much about him since he never opened up to anyone. The song ends with the sad assumption that even though he never told the narrator he loved her, maybe he assumed she knew.

14. “Last Kiss” by Pearl Jam

Song Year: 1999

Pearl Jam covered a 1961 song by a crooner named Wayne Cochran, who was inspired by the true tale of two Georgia teens killed in a traffic accident while on a date.

The narrator watches his beloved die after a car crash, but it’s clear in the song that even before she stops breathing, he recognizes what’s happening and misses her even before she’s gone.

15. “Drink A Beer” by Luke Bryan

Song Year: 2013

Chris Stapleton helped write Luke Bryan’s “Drink a Beer,” a song about losing someone unexpectedly. While death is always tough for those left behind, it’s arguably a little easier when you know it’s coming, like with an extended illness. But a surprise loss— a car accident or something similar— can be much more difficult.

The narrator has suffered such a loss and was self-soothing by doing what he and the deceased would have done together— sit down, have a beer, and chill out— only this time, by himself.

16. “No One But You (Only The Good Die Young)” by Queen

Song Year: 1999

When the world lost Freddie Mercury to AIDS-related complications, we felt the loss deeply. But the members of Queen, who were arguably the closest to the singer, felt it exponentially more than we did.

Guitarist Brian May penned the song in the aftermath of the death of Princess Diana, but it’s so much a song about the loss of Mercury and anyone else we lose too soon.

17. “Heaven” by Beyoncé

Song Year: 2013

People often console themselves in the wake of loss with sentiments involving the deceased being in a better place. Beyoncé’s “Heaven” takes that tack in an effort, according to Queen Bey herself, to find some closure.

Beyoncé drew inspiration for the song, which she co-wrote, from the death of her mother’s best friend. The artist saw the effect the loss had on her mom and could identify with it since we’ve almost all suffered some loss in our lives.

18. “Joanne” by Lady Gaga

Song Year: 2017

Lady Gaga has written some incredibly personal music. Her 2009 song “Speechless” addressed her father’s drinking, and in “Joanne,” we get a look into the reasons why he drank. Joanne was his big sister, and she died at age 19 when Gaga’s dad was 15. The loss hit him hard, and according to the songwriter, he drank as a result of his anger at the unfairness of the loss.

It’s a country song (odd coming from the “Born This Way” singer, but the girl’s got range), and its plaintiveness makes it all that much sadder.

19. “You Should Be Here” by Cole Swindell

Song Year: 2015

Cole Swindell was on the road when an accident killed his father. “You Should Be Here” catalogs the country singer’s sorrow over the loss, and it even starts with a heartbreaking recording of the two men speaking on the phone, laughing and cutting up.

The pain in the song isn’t just that the elder Swindell is gone but that he has missed so many highlights in the singer’s life and career. The idea is that in death, he’s missing so many things he’d have loved to see.

20. “Beloved” by Mumford and Sons

Song Year: 2018

“Beloved” is about missing someone before they’re even gone. Inspired by the loss of frontman Marcus Mumford’s grandmother, in the song, Mumford sits at the bedside of his dying relative. He does his best to make sure she knows, before she shuffles off her mortal coil, how much she has meant to him.

He looks to the future and acknowledges how there will always be an empty place in his life once she’s gone.

21. “Lay Me Down” by Sam Smith feat. John Legend

Song Year: 2014

Just about any song that’s slow with some gospel overtones can tug at the heartstrings. Add the distinctive and emotional voices of Sam Smith and John Legend, and you’ve got something truly mournful.

“Lay Me Down” is about missing a loved one and, like many songs in the oeuvre, wishing for just a little more time with the one who is lost in death.